Saturday, January 23, 2010

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - My Other Interests

It's Saturday night - time for Genealogy Fun - and this week Randy Seaver at GeneaMusings has challenged genea-bloggers to tell all - that is, to tell about our "other" hobbies or interests outside of genealogy and family history research, writing, speaking, etc.

Well, it's true that there aren't many days that I'm not researching at a library or archives, or teaching or speaking about, or at the very least thinking about genealogy and family history, but like Randy, I do have a life, honest!

I too have friends and a family and there are two special fuzzy critters here, Odette and Gilles, who share their home with us. I collect postcards, I love old buildings, I travel when I can, although almost always that has something to do with family history and genealogy. No beaches for me, when there's an archives or a library somewhere nearby!

And right there - a library - a clue!

Deborah Sayles Library, Pawtucket, Rhode Island, USA. Opened in 1902, still a library, the Pawtucket Public Library, and now in the U.S.A's National Historic Register. Coloured postcard, unused; Published by the Rhode Island News Company, Providence RI, Leipzig, Dresden. Private collection.For another view, see the Library Postcards blog.

As some know (especially from my tweets) I do spend a significant amount of time each week reading - on the bus, on the train, waiting in line, even while watching the odd TV show (a Murdoch mystery tonight). I read a fair bit of history, but most of my very favourite authors write historical mysteries. A few would be Gillian Linscott for her series of English suffragette Nell Bray mysteries and, of course, Maureen Jennings and her Canadian mysteries set in 1890s Toronto and featuring detective William Murdoch, then there's authors Kate Ross and Barbara Hambly, and David Liss, Arturo Perez-Reverte....

People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading. Logan Pearsall Smith, Life and letters, v. 5, no. 27 (August 1930), Afterthoughts, page 71.

For years now, I've been eicuthbertson, as a member of BookCrossing. We register books on the BookCrossing site, read them, comment on-line, then release the books, usually in a public place, so others will find them and enjoy. Through BookCrossing, I've met good friends and been introduced to books I'd never have known about or considered reading otherwise. BookCrossers have a lot of fun - we meet in person or on-line to share books and participate in book related activities. Today in fact I posted a BookCrossing Challenge to promote Canada's Freedom to Read Week, February 21-27, 2010.

7 comments:

Oh my gosh! I love the Detective Murdoch books! When I moved to Toronto in '04 to do my graduate work, they were the very first books I picked up in my spare time. I got my mom hooked, too, and we just about fell over when the tv series appeared here in the States (on public television)!

I had nver heard of Bookcrossing. A very worthwhile endeavor. I need to get busy and write that SNGF, even though it is Monday. Like you I do have a life outside genealogy, but somehow the outside life seems to come back to family research. I guess it's just in the genes!

Yes, BookCrossing is great! Like you, when I thought about my weekly schedule, everything seemed to have something to do with genealogy. Even all those mystery novels are good exercises in 'evidence' and 'proof'.It's been nice to learn a little bit more about other people though!